Turkey will no longer allow citizens from Syria, Yemen, and Iraq to buy flight tickets from the country to Belarus amid a migrants’ crisis between Belarus and the European Union, Turkey’s Civil Aviation General Directorate (SHGM) said on Friday.
“In relation to the illegal border crossing problem between the European Union and Belarus, it has been decided for citizens from Iraq, Syria, and Yemen wanting to travel to Belarus from our country’s airports not to be sold tickets and not to be allowed on planes,” tweeted the SHGM.
The decisions came after the Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected on Thursday efforts to “portray Ankara as part of the problem” in the migrant crisis along the Poland-Belarus border, as Turkey and its national Airlines, Turkish Airlines (THY), have been accused of contributing to the migrant flow.
Turkey on Thursday renewed its support for Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania amid the refugee flux on their borders with Belarus.
“We are saddened to see that necessary measures are not taken in terms of the illegal passing of third-country citizens to our allies Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia through Belarus soils and they are left in harsh conditions on border regions,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also said that Ankara hopes that the concerned parties solve the issue “in moderation,” adding that Ankara is ready to “give all necessary support in order to overcome this issue.”
Belarusian state-owned airline Belavia also announced Friday that it will no longer allow citizens of the three MENA countries to board flights from Turkey at the request of Turkish authorities.
“In line with a decision by the Turkish authorities, citizens of Iraq, Syria, Yemen will not be accepted for transportation on flights from Turkey to Belarus from 12.11.2021,” Belavia airlines announced in a statement on its website.
Poland and the European Union (EU) have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trying to retaliate against EU sanctions by deliberately inviting and forcing migrants toward the Polish border,
EU countries bordering Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, have reported a dramatic spike in the number of irregular crossings since August.
NATO and EU announced, after an emergency meeting at the UN Security Council on the crisis, that Belarus’ approach toward migrants an effort to destabilize and undermine security in the continent through nonmilitary means, said the UN council after
On Monday, Polish authorities stepped up border protection and mobilized 15,000 troops, as a large group of migrants started marching toward the country’s frontier with Belarus accompanied by the Belarusian military, according to AFP.
Migrants have been trying to cross the border for months but the crisis increased on Monday when hundreds made a concerted effort and were pushed back by Polish border guards.
According to the latest EU figures, 7,935 people tried to enter the bloc via the Belarus-EU border so far this year.
At least 10 migrants have died on the border in recent months, seven of them on the Polish side, according to the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.
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